What's New at KidsPeace

News and Notes from KidsPeace

In December 2012, Russia closed their doors to all U.S. adoptions. That leaves the U.S at an all-time low for adoption rates, plummeting to a 20-year low after peaking at nearly 23,000 in 2004 and falling to 9,319 in 2011, according to the state department.

Russia was among the top three foreign countries to serve as the source of children to be adopted by Americans. Declines in adoptions from China, Ethiopia and South Korea are prompting some parents to look homeward. The number of U.S. infant adoptions (about 90,000 in 1971) fell from 22,291 in 2002 to 18,078 in 2007, according to the most recent five-year tally from the private National Council for Adoption. But the group's president, Chuck Johnson, says the number has remained fairly stable since 2007, citing efforts to promote adoption.

Today there are fewer children in foster care because more are reunited with birth parents or adopted by relatives and foster parents. The number waiting to be adopted fell from 130,637 in 2003 to 104,236 in 2011, according to the Children's Bureau. In an effort to help, KidsPeace continues to support their communities and families by helping to provide foster care to kids that need loving, deserving and caring homes.